The
prosecution got a second shot at a conviction this week
when the retrial of a young man accused of causing death
by dangerous driving began before Justice Kenneth Benjamin.
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Robert Innocent appeared
for the State. Head of the St Lucian Bar Association Andie
George represented the accused.
At Tuesdays sitting a traffic officer who attended the accident
on the night of October 1st 2004 testified as to what he
saw when he reached the scene at the Escape junction on
the Vieux Fort highway.
“Somebody was trapped at the wheel,” said the
officer. “ The emergency services had to cut him out.
The body was lifeless.”
The officer turned to his pocket book and thumbed through
the pages to the statement the accused had made to the officer
shortly after the accident.
The officer read the notes: “I came from Castries
heading towards Vieux Fort. When I got to the Escap road
I saw a pickup coming towards me from the other direction.
I told the guy who was with me- to watch it. I moved further
to my left but the two vehicles hit.

My
truck capsized on its left side. The truck was carrying
a fork lift. At the time I was travelling between 40 and
45 mph.”
The officer told the court that the speed limit on that
stretch of road was 40mph.
During the hearing the officer referred to the accused official
police statement who was at the time twenty three years
old and a supervisor for a hardware company.
Reading the statement the officer continued: “It was
9.15pm. A fork lift was tied in the back of the truck. I
was with a co worker. I was going down a hill between 40
and 45 mph I saw a pickup van. Actually I saw a light. I
moved the truck left because of the speed of the oncoming
vehicle. We capsized. We came out of the wind screen. When
I saw the light I said look that man coming on us. I applied
brakes, the road was dry.”
The trial continues.
It is believed that three young men were in the pickup that
night heading towards Castries. The driver Stephen Daniel
died on the spot from injuries sustained during the crash.